For those who like atmospheric horror, Son Of Dracula is a treat.
Count Alucard (Dracula spelled backwards) goes to Louisiana to make willing Louise Allbritton his bride. But she has other ideas up her sleeve.
This film features the first man-into-bat transformation ever seen on camera. In Dracula (1931) no transformations were shown on screen. Both John Carradine and Bela Lugosi would get similar treatment over the next five years.
Lon Chaney Jr. Plays Count Alucard, the son of Count Dracula. His father Lon Chaney had been cast as the title character in Dracula (1931) but died of a throat hemorrhage on August 26, 1930 at the age of 47 before the filming could begin.
The production animating Alucard's bat transformations, while special effects also construct his ability to float over water. While low-fi, the tricks are fun to watch, adding a pinch of cinematic sophistication, which helps to sell the fantasy of Dracula.
The special effects wizard on Son of Dracula was John P. Fulton, who began his career as an assistant (uncredited) on the landmark film Frankenstein (1931) and eventually rose to become the head of Universal's Special Effects department. His innovative work on early films like The Invisible Man (1933) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) helped lay the groundwork for the astonishing modern effects he created for Son of Dracula. Fulton went on to win three Academy Awards for his special effects work on later films, including The Ten Commandments (1956) in which he created the celebrated parting of the Red Sea sequence, which left audiences gasping in amazement.
Son of Dracula remains an underrated eerie gem of the classic horror genre with the dark undercurrent of a noir. Over the years fans and critics of the genre have rediscovered the film and have come to appreciate Son of Dracula as a unique and satisfying contribution to Universal's horror canon.
Count Alucard (Dracula spelled backwards) goes to Louisiana to make willing Louise Allbritton his bride. But she has other ideas up her sleeve.
This film features the first man-into-bat transformation ever seen on camera. In Dracula (1931) no transformations were shown on screen. Both John Carradine and Bela Lugosi would get similar treatment over the next five years.
Lon Chaney Jr. Plays Count Alucard, the son of Count Dracula. His father Lon Chaney had been cast as the title character in Dracula (1931) but died of a throat hemorrhage on August 26, 1930 at the age of 47 before the filming could begin.
The production animating Alucard's bat transformations, while special effects also construct his ability to float over water. While low-fi, the tricks are fun to watch, adding a pinch of cinematic sophistication, which helps to sell the fantasy of Dracula.
The special effects wizard on Son of Dracula was John P. Fulton, who began his career as an assistant (uncredited) on the landmark film Frankenstein (1931) and eventually rose to become the head of Universal's Special Effects department. His innovative work on early films like The Invisible Man (1933) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) helped lay the groundwork for the astonishing modern effects he created for Son of Dracula. Fulton went on to win three Academy Awards for his special effects work on later films, including The Ten Commandments (1956) in which he created the celebrated parting of the Red Sea sequence, which left audiences gasping in amazement.
Son of Dracula remains an underrated eerie gem of the classic horror genre with the dark undercurrent of a noir. Over the years fans and critics of the genre have rediscovered the film and have come to appreciate Son of Dracula as a unique and satisfying contribution to Universal's horror canon.